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Why is Russia in Syria?

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(CNN)Plane problems emerge over Syria. President Obama apologizes. And FIFA's president is (or is not) suspended.

It's Thursday, and here are five things to know for your new day.

RUSSIA IN SYRIA

Diverted: It's getting pretty crowded in the skies over Syria. U.S planes attacking ISIS. Russia's planes allegedly attacking ISIS (though they're probably really attacking Syrian rebels). Sounds like a recipe for a really bad military "incident." To avoid that, U.S. pilots have been ordered to change their flight paths if a Russian plane comes within 20 nautical miles. That's why yesterday, two U.S. planes flying from an air base in Turkey into Syria changed flight paths to keep a safe flying distance from a Russian fighter aircraft. That's the first time it's happened since Russia started military operations in Syria last month.

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U.S. diverting aircrafts over Syria

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U.S. diverting aircrafts over Syria02:30

AFGHANISTAN HOSPITAL BOMBING

Sorry: President Obama apologized yesterday for the U.S. airstrike that killed 22 people at a hospital in Afghanistan run by Doctors Without Borders. But will it be enough? The president of the medical charity stills wants an independent agency -- and not the U.S. government -- to conduct the investigation of the bombing. Obama also called Afghanistan's president to offer condolences for Afghan civilians killed during the airstrike.

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Obama apologizes to Doctors Without Borders

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Obama apologizes to Doctors Without Borders01:07

CAMPAIGN 2016

Realness: Who knew that an Australian-born media mogul could be such an expert on black America? Rupert Murdoch definitely knows a "real" black president when he sees one, at least that's what he said in a tweet yesterday that rocketed around the world. In the tweet, Murdoch expressed admiration for GOP hopeful Ben Carson, implying that the former neurosurgeon was somehow more racially authentic than the current White House occupant. In a follow-up tweet, Murdoch pointed to a magazine article that exposed "minority community disappointment" with Obama. Murdoch's comments were widely denounced; he hasn't responded to the backlash.

Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else.

FIFA

Questions: Media:Sepp Blatter is suspended. Lawyers: Not necessarily. That's where things stand right now with the embattled soccer president. Initial media reports yesterday said Blatter had been provisionally suspended for 90 days. But his lawyers said Blatter was unaware "of any action taken" by FIFA. Blatter still considers himself the president of FIFA and is "still prepared to serve FIFA." Glad that's cleared up.

Photos:FIFA corruption scandal timeline

Decmber 21, 2015 – FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter during a press conference he convened in response to the ban imposed by FIFA's Ethics Committee. The Swiss was sporting a band aid under his right eye -- thought to be because of a recent mole removal.

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December 21, 2015 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini are banned by FIFA's Ethics Committee for eight years. The ban relates to all football-related activity and is effective immediately.

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November 11, 2015 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter had been in hospital in November, recovering from "a body breakdown."

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November 9, 2015 – Wolfgang Niersbach announces his resignation as German Football Federation president, taking "political responsibility" for accusations of bribery involving the country's bid to stage the 2006 World Cup.

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October 26, 2015 – FIFA's deadline for submitting candidacies for its presidential election was October 26, with eight putting themselves forward for the February 26, 2015 vote to succeed Sepp Blatter. However, on October 28 David Nakhid was omitted from FIFA's final list as one of the five football associations that had declared its support for him had already done so for another candidate.

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October 26, 2015 – UEFA president Michel Platini was the first to enter the FIFA presidential race back in July, but questions remain over whether he is even still eligible to stand in the election after he was provisionally banned from football for 90 days.

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October 26, 2015 – Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan announced his presidency bid in September. He was the sole challenger to Sepp Blatter in the May 29 election but conceded defeat after receiving 73 votes to the Swiss' 133 in the first round of voting.

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October 26, 2015 – Ex-Trinidad and Tobago captain David Nakhid submitted his candidacy earlier this month. Nakhid also played for the likes of PAOK of Greece and Malmo of Sweden. However, on October 28, Nakhid was omitted from FIFA's final list. "One of the five declarations of support for Mr Nakhid was declared invalid as the same member association had previously issued a declaration of support for another candidate," said a FIFA statement. "In view of this, the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee decided not to consider Mr Nakhid's application as it did not fulfil the required five declarations of support."

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October 26, 2015 – South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale, who has been part of FIFA's anti-discrimination taskforce, announced his intention to run for presidency after the South African Football Association's National Executive Committee unanimously endorsed his candidacy last week.

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October 26, 2015 – Former FIFA international relations director Jerome Champagne, who had hoped to challenge Blatter in May's election but was forced to withdraw, confirmed last week that he will be standing.

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October 26, 2015 – Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa launched his bid to become the next FIFA president 24 hours before the deadline. Sheikh Salman has been criticized by human rights organizations after being accused of complicity in crimes against humanity. Sheikh Salman's representatives were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNN.

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October 26, 2015 – UEFA announced on the day of the deadline that its general secretary Gianni Infantino -- Platini's right-hand man -- will run for the FIFA presidency.

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October 26, 2015 – Liberian Football Association president Musa Bility also confirmed on the day of the deadline that he is to run for the FIFA presidency.

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October 8, 2015 – Has FIFA president Blatter spent his last day as head of football's world governing body? The 79-year-old Swiss was provisionally banned for 90 days Thursday by the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA's Ethics Committee, though the duration of the ban could be extended by 45 days.

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October 8, 2015 – UEFA president and FIFA vice-president Platini was also provisionally banned for 90 days. Platini is one of the FIFA presidential candidates hoping to succeed Blatter.

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October 8, 2015 – South Korean billionaire and FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon was banned for six years and fined $103,000 based on findings relating to the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

Chung, a former FIFA vice president, vociferously denies any wrongdoing and attacked his colleagues for leaks that he says are designed to hurt his candidacy.

September 14, 2015 – U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announces that 'additional charges against individuals and entities' are likely following the assessment of new evidence.

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September 9, 2015 – Prince Ali adds his name to the list of candidates seeking to replace Sepp Blatter. The election at scandal-hit FIFA is on February 26, 2016.

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July 30, 2015 – South Korean billionaire and former FIFA vice president Chung announces his intention to run for the top job in world soccer.

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July 29, 2015 – European football chief Platini, seen here with Blatter (left), is the leading candidate to replace the outgoing president. The former France captain is also a vice-president in FIFA's Executive Committee.

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May 14, 2010 – A turbulent period for FIFA began in May 2010 when the world's governing body for soccer was presented with official bid documents by Australia, England, Netherlands/Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Russia, Spain/Portugal and the United States for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. During the ceremony at its Swiss headquarters, FIFA announced dates for inspections of the bidding nations from July-September.

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May 16, 2010 – British newspaper Mail On Sunday reveals that English bid leader David Triesman (pictured here with soccer star David Beckham) was secretly recorded making comments about alleged attempts by Spain and Russia to bribe referees at the imminent 2010 FIFA World Cup.

November 29, 2010 – Issa Hayatou from Cameroon (pictured) is one of three FIFA officials -- the others Nicolas Leoz from Paraguay and Ricardo Teixeira from Brazil -- who are named in a BBC program which alleges they took bribes from the International Sports and Leisure (ISL) marketing company who secured World Cup rights in the 1990s. A day later, Hayatou says he is considering legal action against the BBC. All three would have voted on the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The International Olympic Committee's Ethics Commission later looks into the claims against Hayatou -- as he was an IOC member. It finds he had personally received a sum of money from ISL as a donation to finance the African Football Confederation (CAF)'s 40th anniversary and recommends he be reprimanded. In 2013, an internal investigation finds Leoz and Teixeira accepted illegal payments from ISL but says the acceptance of bribe money was not punishable under Swiss law at the time. Its report says that as both have resigned their positions with FIFA further steps over "the morally and ethically reproachable conduct of both persons" are superfluous.

May 10, 2011 – Just a few weeks before FIFA's presidential vote, former English Football Association chairman David Triesman testifies at a UK parliamentary enquiry into England's failed 2018 bid. Under the cover of parliamentary privilege, Triesman accuses FIFA Executive Committee members Warner, Leoz, Teixeira and Worawi Makudi of trying to secure cash and privileges in return for their vote. In other evidence submitted to the committee from the Sunday Times, it was alleged that FIFA vice-president Hayatou along with fellow Executive Committee member Jacques Anouma has been paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar as the 2022 World Cup host. All those accused, and the Qatar Football Association, strenuously deny the allegations.

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May 26, 2011 – FIFA announces it will investigate Warner (pictured), who ran the CONCACAF federation covering Central and North America, and Mohamed Bin Hammam, head of the Asian Football Confederation, over bribery allegations. It follows a report by fellow Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer alleging that they paid $40,000 worth of bribes to secure the support of members of the Caribbean Football Union. They deny the claims, with Warner promising a "tsunami" of revelations to clear his name. Bin Hammam claims the accusations are part of a plan to force him to withdraw as a candidate for FIFA's presidency. He is incumbent Blatter's only opponent in FIFA's presidential election due to be held June 1.

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May 27, 2011 – FIFA says it will expand its corruption probe to include Blatter, after Bin Hammam claimed Blatter knew about cash payments he was accused of giving to national football association in exchange for pro-Hammam votes during Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid. Blatter maintains that the allegations are "without substance," and two days later is exonerated by FIFA's Ethics Committee.

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May 29, 2011 – But FIFA's Ethics Committee upholds the complaints against Bin Hammam (pictured) and Warner. Bin Hammam is effectively barred from standing in the FIFA leadership election. Warner's tsunami turns out to be an email, where secretary general Valcke seems to suggest that Qatar "bought" the right to host the 2022 World Cup. After initially threatening legal action, Qatar withdraws its complaint when Valcke explains he was referring to Qatar's large, and legal, campaign budget, rather than bribes. Warner faces no further action following his resignation and the presumption of innocence remains.

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June 1, 2011 – Despite a last minute attempt by the English FA to postpone the vote -- a proposal which garnered just 17 out of the available 208 votes -- Blatter is re-elected for a fourth term as president of FIFA at the 61st FIFA Congress at Hallenstadion in Zurich. He vows to learn from past mistakes and undertake a reform agenda.

March 30, 2012 – FIFA announces its executive committee has approved proposed changes to its Ethics Committee, splitting it into two entities -- one to investigate allegations and another to rule on them. It follows a report by the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) commissioned after Bin Hammam's ban, that found FIFA's past handling of corruption scandals had been "unsatisfactory."

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April 24, 2012 – The Council of Europe, a watchdog that oversees the European Court of Human Rights, criticizes Blatter in a damning report into FIFA's handling of bribery allegations. The report says it would be "difficult to imagine" that the FIFA president would have been unaware of "significant sums" paid to unnamed FIFA officials by sports marketing company International Sports and Leisure (ISL) in connection with lucrative contracts for World Cup television rights. However it makes no allegations that he had any involvement in corruption.

January 9, 2013 – FIFA imposes a worldwide lifetime ban from football on 41 players from Korea who became embroiled in match-fixing activities in their domestic league, extending a ban handed down by the Korea Football Association (KFA) in 2011. The charges relate to alleged match-fixing in Korea's domestic K-League competition. All but one case were centered on offering or accepting bribes to throw matches.

March 11, 2013 – FIFA says executive committee member Vernon Manilal Fernando of Sri Lanka has been suspended at the request of Garcia and Eckert, co-chairs of the investigatory and adjudicatory bodies of the Ethics Committee respectively. No details of his alleged transgression were released, but FIFA said the decision was based on alleged violations of its Code of Ethics, including conflicts of interest, offering and accepting bribes, bribery and corruption, "in order to prevent the interference with the establishment of the truth with respect to proceedings now in the adjudicatory chamber." He is later given a lifetime ban, which he unsuccessfully appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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April 30, 2013 – An internal investigation by FIFA's Ethics Committee clears Blatter of misconduct in the bribery scandal, but his predecessor, Brazilian Havelange, resigns as honorary president for his part in the scandal. Havelange and former executive committee members Teixeira and Leoz were all found to have accepted illegal payments from former marketing partner International Sports and Leisure (ISL) between 1992 and 2000.

June 13, 2014 – German footballer Franz Beckenbauer, the only man to win the World Cup as captain and coach, is provisionally suspended from any football-related activity for 90 days for failing to cooperate with a FIFA corruption investigation. FIFA says Beckenbauer had been asked to help with its Ethics Committee's probe into allegations against Qatar 2022 and the World Cup bidding process. Beckenbauer tells German media that he did not respond to questions by the chairman of the Ethics Committee's investigatory body because they were in English and he did not understand them.

December 17, 2014 – Garcia resigns as chairman of the investigatory body of the Ethics Committee, following FIFA's decision to throw out his appeal after he complained about the way his report into the World Cup bidding process had been summarized by Eckert.

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December 19, 2014 – FIFA decides to publish a redacted version of Garcia's investigative report into alleged corruption surrounding the bidding process for the tournaments. The decision was unanimously endorsed by FIFA's 25-person executive committee.

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May 27, 2015 – At the request of U.S. officials, Swiss authorities raid FIFA's headquarters in Zurich and arrest seven people. Meantime, the U.S. Department of Justice announces the unsealing of a 47-count indictment detailing charges against 14 people for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. They include FIFA officials accused of taking bribes totaling more than $150 million and in return provided "lucrative media and marketing rights" to soccer tournaments as kickbacks over the past 24 years. Separately Switzerland announces its own investigation into the awarding of the World Cup bids to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

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SUNKEN SHIP

Suspended: The search is over for the El Faro. The U.S. Coast Guard called off its search yesterday, nearly a week after the cargo ship disappeared as Hurricane Joaquin was bearing down on it. The president of the company that owned the El Faro promised to help those affected by the tragedy. The NTSB has requested that a salvage unit of the U.S. Navy head to the search site to undertake underwater surveying.